Chapter 21 Chapter 20 Alone with the Orcs

I faced these orcs, and my fate among them, without a single hand—and literally, with a single hand, for my arm was broken.There was a pistol in his pocket, but both chambers were empty.Among the debris strewn here and there on the beach were two axes that had been used to chop up the ferry.Behind me, the tide came up unconsciously. There is no other way but to rely on courage.I stared resolutely into the faces of the twenty monsters approaching me.They avoided my eyes, flapped their nostrils, and examined several corpses lying on the beach in the distance.I took six steps, picked up the bloody whip from under the werewolf, and cracked it.

They stopped and looked at me. "Salute," I said. "salute!" They hesitated.One of them got down on his knees.I repeated the order, my heart almost jumped into my throat, and I pushed towards them step by step.One orc knelt down, and then the other two did too. As I turned my face to the three kneeling orcs, I turned and walked towards the corpses, very much like an actor walking across the stage with his face turned towards the audience. "They broke the law," I said, stepping on the corpse of the grey-haired grotesque who was praying the law: "They were killed. Not even the grey-haired man who read the law. Not even the other man with the whip. The law is great! Come and see."

"No one escapes," said one of the orcs, stepping forward and peering sideways. "Nobody can escape," I said. "So listen, and do as I tell you." They stood up, looking at each other suspiciously. "Stand there," I said. I picked up the two axes, hung the heads in the slings over the wounded arm, turned Montgomery over, picked up his pistol with both chambers fully loaded, and bent over A search turned up six rounds of ammunition in his pockets. "Carry him," I said, straightening up again, and pointing with the whip, "carry him, carry him to the sea, and throw him into the sea."

They came forward, obviously still afraid of Montgomery, but more afraid of my crackling, bloody whip.After a lot of clumsy fiddling and hesitation, whip lashing and yelling, they lifted him carefully, down the sand, and all the way splashing into the shining, heaving sea. "Go on," I said, "go on!—carry him a little farther away." They went on again, until the water had reached their armpits, and they stood there watching me. "Throw it away," I said. Montgomery's body disappeared with a splash.It was as if something was suffocating my chest. "Good!" I said, my voice changing.

In their haste and terror they ran back to the water's edge, leaving behind them a long dark channel on the silvery sea.They paused at the water's edge and turned to stare into the depths of the sea, as if, as a necessary consequence, they were still waiting for Montgomery to come out of there again, compelled to take revenge. "Now, these," I said, pointing to the other bodies. They were careful not to go near the place where Montgomery was thrown into the sea, but carried the four orc corpses across the beach and walked more than a hundred steps before wading into the water and throwing the corpses away.As I watched them pick up Mling's slashed remains, I heard soft footsteps behind me, and I turned around to see the big hyenaboar only twelve paces away.He lowered his head, staring at me with piercing eyes, and clenched his thick and short hands tightly against his side.When I turned around, he stopped, huddled in just this way, and then averted his eyes from me a little.

For a moment, we stood there eye to eye.I put down my whip and grabbed the pistol in my pocket.I really intended to kill him at the first pretext of the most fearful beast presently remaining on the island.Although it seems treacherous, I still made up my mind.I'm far more afraid of him than any of the other two orcs.I know that as long as he lives one day, he will be a huge threat to me. It took me about ten seconds to calm down, and then I shouted loudly: "Salute! Salute!" He growled and bared his teeth at me. "Who are you, why should I—" Trembling perhaps a little, I pulled out my pistol, took aim, and fired right away.I only heard him scream wildly, saw him turn sideways, turned around and ran away, I knew the gun missed him.With a click, I re-engaged the trigger with my thumb for a second shot.But he was already running away, jumping from side to side, and I didn't dare to risk the second shot by mistake.He looked back at me from time to time.He ran diagonally along the sand and disappeared under the billowing smoke from the still-burning paddock.For a while I stood there following him.I turned back to the three obedient orcs and ordered them to throw the still-carrying body into the sea.Then I walked back to the fire where the body had been, and kicked up the sand until all the brown blood was sucked up and covered up by the sand.

I waved my hand and sent my three servants away, then walked up the beach and into the dense jungle.I carried a pistol, a whip, and an ax--all in a sling over my wounded arm.I wish I could be left alone, so that I could think carefully about my situation. I began to realize—and this was only the beginning—that the most frightening thing was that there was now no place on the island where I could safely be alone, and it was even more difficult to find a place where I could rest and sleep safely.I've recovered a lot since I came to the island, but I'm still prone to nervousness, and I'm prone to breaking down under any kind of stress.I think I should cross the island and settle down with the orcs to gain their trust and my own safety.But my heart won't let me do that.I went back to the beach, past the burning paddock, and turned east, toward a shallow spit of coral sand that jutted out to a reef.Here I can sit down and think about it, with my back to the sea and my face to any accidents that might happen.I sat there with my chin on my knees, the sun beating on my head, my mind racing with growing fear, and I figured out how to get to my rescue before the time (if anyone could come) survive.I tried to review the big picture as calmly as I could, but I was too emotional to get my head around it.

I began to turn over and over in my mind the reasons for Montgomery's despair. "They will change," he said. "They're bound to change." And Maku—what had Moreau been saying? "Day by day the obstinate beastly lust is revived." Then it turned to the Hyenabog.I'm sure if I don't kill the beast he will kill me.The grey-haired grotesque who prayed the law is dead--bad luck!The Orcs now know that we who bear the whip can be killed as well as they themselves.Were they already watching me from the ferns and the green foliage of the palms over there--watching me come within striking distance of them leaping at me?Are they planning a plot against me?What is the hyenapig talking to them?Such imaginings drove me into the abyss of imaginary terror.My thoughts were disturbed by the cries of some seabirds scurrying toward the dark object that had been stranded by the waves on the sand near the paddock.I knew what that object was, but I didn't have the heart to go back and drive those seabirds away.I walked along the beach in the opposite direction, intending to go around the southeast of the island, so that when I approached the cave of the orcs in the canyon, I would not pass by the place where the ambush might be buried deep in the dense forest.

About half a mile along the beach, I became aware of one of the three orcs, coming out of the jungle towards me.I was very nervous because I was thinking wildly, and I pulled out the pistol immediately.Despite the conciliatory air of the fellow, it didn't make me put away the pistol.He came over hesitantly. "Go away," I called. There was something in the cowering posture of the fellow that suggested a dog's expression.He stepped back a few steps, much like a dog being called home, and stopped again, staring at me imploringly with brown dog-like eyes. "Go away," I said. "Don't come near me."

"Can't I come near you?" he said. "No. Go away," I insisted, and grabbed my whip.Then, biting the whip between my teeth, I stooped to pick up a stone, and as a threat, drove the guy away.In this way, I circled around alone and came to the vicinity of the Beastman Canyon.I hid in the reeds and weeds that separated the valley from the sea, and observed some orcs that appeared, intending to judge from their behavior and expressions, how much the death of Moreau and Montgomery and the destruction of the House of Misery meant to them. What kind of influence did it have.Of course I know now that my cowardice and timidity at the time were foolish.If I could keep my courage at the level of the dawn, if I could not let my courage be drained in solitary and desolate thoughts, I might indeed seize the vacant throne left by Moreau, and rule these The orcs are coming.But as it happened, I wasted my time, and ended up being reduced to a leader among my companions.

It was almost noon, and some orcs came, crawling on the hot sand to bask in the sun.The rushing, gurgling hunger and unbearable thirst overwhelmed my fear.I came out of the jungle, pistol in hand, and walked down towards the orc sitting there.One of them, a wolf girl, turned to stare at me, and the other orcs followed suit.None of the orcs were going to stand up and salute me.I was too weak and tired to have to deal with so many people, and I missed the moment. "I'd like something to eat," I said almost apologetically, walking past "there's food in the cave," a buffalo lazily said, looking sideways away from me. I passed them, down into the shadow and stench of the almost deserted canyon.In an empty den, I ecstatically feasted on some wild fruit.At the entrance I made a hedge of some spotted and half-decayed twigs and sticks, and lay down on the floor with my gun in hand and my face toward the door.Thirty hours of running and exhaustion had made me exhausted, and this exhaustion was fully revealed at this time. I allowed myself to take a nap with vigilance, believing that although the defense fence I had built was weak, it would be impossible to defend against it. If it changes, trying to remove it must make enough noise to save me from a sneak attack.